This book tells the story of how White Rhodesians, three-quarters of
whom were ill- prepared for revolutionary change, reacted to the
"terrorist" war and the onset of black rule in the 1970s. It shows how
internal divisions--both old and new--undermined the supposed unity of
White Rhodesia, how most Rhodesians begrudgingly accepted the
inevitability of black majority rule without adjusting to its
implications, and how the self- appointed defenders of Western
civilization sometimes adopted uncivilized methods of protecting the
"Rhodesian way of life." This is a lively and accessible account, based
on careful archival research and numerous personal interviews. It sets
out to tell the story from the inside and to incorporate the diverse
dimensions of the Rhodesian experience. The authors suggest that the
Rhodesians were more differentiated than has often been assumed and that
perhaps their greatest fault was an almost infinite capacity for self-
delusion.